I give you this land and an olive branch, just as Æthelstein gave me free of charge, and I hope you will be my dear brother. This is the speech of the king of England in the 14th century at the ceremony of conferring the lands of the lords. The Ethelstan mentioned here is the first true king of England in history. It is not wrong to call him the First Emperor of England.
Æthelstein's grandfather was the famous Alfred the Great in English history. Maybe friends will be confused, Alfred the Great shouldn't be the king of England?
In fact, in the era of Alfred the Great, he did not completely defeat the Danes, but it can only be said that he kept his territory under the attack of the Danes, and the Danes were still divided and self-governing in England. Strictly speaking, Alfred the Great can only be called the king of the Anglo-Saxons. At that time, the Danish Vikings, who controlled large swathes of England, were autonomous.
Æthelstein first captured the city of York, defeated the King of Ireland, and then conquered Scotland. It was also the first time in history that England conquered Scotland next door. Around 937 AD, Æthelstein defeated the counterattack of the Vikings in the land, making Viking England finally history.
For the first time, Æthelstein unified the currency of England, and before that, except for the three hundred and fifty years when the Roman Empire ruled England, the currency of England had never been unified, and each small kingdom spent its own money.
In Æthelstan's time, there were the terms of counties, 100 households, and villages and towns in the administrative divisions of England. In fact, this division is mainly for the needs of taxation. But to another extent, the administrative system of England was really slowly established in his hands.
Interestingly, the boundaries of these counties of England have lasted for more than a thousand years. It was not until 1974 that the British government realigned the jurisdictions and boundaries of the counties.
Historically, England has a unique history where time flows at a particularly slow pace. In the history of England, it was not uncommon for a law to be in force for hundreds of years. England is not a nation known for its rapid change, but on the contrary, it is known for its perpetuation of customs.
Then again, in the late Æthelstein period, he was not satisfied with the title of King of England. He began to call himself "King of All Britannia". Some historians have written that it was from Æthelstan onwards that peace and prosperity really appeared in England, after all, the country began to be united.
It's just that Æthelstein, the real king of England, is far less famous in the history of England than his grandfather Alfred the Great. His grave is at Malmesbury Abbey.